The Addams Family: Puttergeist
"Puttergeist" is a Halloween-themed episode of the [[The Addams Family#1990s animated series|1990s animated TV series The Addams Family]], based on characters originally created by the American cartoonist Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine in 1938. The episode first aired in the United States on ABC on October 31, 1992. In the series, the very strange and somewhat macabre Addams family, headed by Gomez Addams and his wife Morticia, live in an otherwise normal suburb of the town of Happy Dale Heights. Their next door neighbors, Norman Normameyer, the owner of an underwear company, and his wife Normina, hate the Addamses and are constantly either trying to persuade them or force them to leave the neighborhood. The Normameyer's son NJ, however, is a close friend of the Addams children, Wednesday and Pugsley. As a result, there is often friction not only between the Addams and Normameyer families but also between NJ and his parents. Plot On Halloween night, Grandmama Addams tells the family a ghost story about the Puttergeist. According to Grandmama's story, a man was playing golf during a thunderstorm on Halloween night forty years earlier. He was struck by lightning and lost his head as a result. His ghost, the Puttergeist, now has an enormous golf ball for a head and rides around the town of Happy Dale Heights on Halloween, terrifying its inhabitants. Gomez and Morticia Addams enjoy the story very much. Their daughter Wednesday, however, is unimpressed and is certain that the Puttergeist does not exist. Wednesday, her brother Pugsley and the neighbors' son NJ Normameyer go out trick-or-treating. Like his father, Norman Normamyer, NJ is wearing an underwear-themed costume, including a mask in the form of a pair of boxer shorts with eyeholes in them. While the children are out, Wednesday sees someone dressed as the Puttergeist who turns out to be her Uncle Fester in disguise. Wednesday is equally unconcerned when a second Puttergeist turns up. However, the second Puttergeist appears to be the real one. He chases after Wednesday in his golf cart, apparently determined to capture her. The Puttergeist is eventually revealed to be Norman Normameyer. Mr. Normameyer explains that his grandfather invented the story of the Puttergeist, began the tradition of dressing up as the character and scaring the townspeople on Halloween night and that it has been passed down through the family. NJ is at first disappointed to find out that the Puttergeist does not exist but then feels proud of his father for carrying on such a strange family tradition. The episode ends with a third Puttergeist appearing, suggesting that the ghostly character is real after all. See also *''The Addams Family'': Halloween with the Addams Family *''The Addams Family'': Halloween - Addams Style *''Halloween with the New Addams Family *''The New Addams Family'': Halloween with the Addams Family External links *[[IMDB:tt1430408| The Addams Family: "Puttergeist" on the Internet Movie Database.]] *[http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/9284-Puttergeist.html The Addams Family: "Puttergeist" on the Big Cartoon Database.] Category:Episodes of TV shows Category:The Addams Family